When tissue surrounding a body lumen becomes cancerous or otherwise diseased, it is often necessary to remove the diseased tissue for analysis or disposal. Conventional devices and methods for such tissue removal often require open surgery to access the diseased tissue. Because open surgery is an intrusive procedure with many undesired side-effects, less invasive procedures for internal tissue removal are desired.
Recently, tissue cutters have been developed for in-situ (i.e., laparoscopic, endoscopic, etc.) tissue removal. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,643,304 and 5,527,332, both incorporated herein by reference, describe such cutters. One limitation of these cutters, however, is that they do not provide an effective mechanism for grasping tissue before cutting. As a result, it is often difficult to accurately remove localized diseased tissue without also removing a substantial amount of the surrounding tissue. Moreover, conventional cutters do not provide a means for suturing the tissue from which the diseased tissue has been removed. It is therefore not possible to use such devices alone for the removal of the full-wall thickness of a body lumen without leakage from the lumen (of blood, feces, etc.).